Shadow Knight
by Kytheres
Summary: After Keys to the Demon Prison. The day starts out normal but even bad things have a good start, don't they? Stan, Seth and Kendra's grandfather, gets kidnapped, and Seth isn't too far behind on that bandwagon. Kendra and the others have to go find them before they are lost forever. Includes an OC (lots, actually), and more people that you (might) recognize!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Kidnapping (Version Two)

The night started out well. The air was cool and crisp. The trees were bright, with explosions of yellow, red, and brown-tan. Some of the bushes in the front yard looked more dead than alive, but that was always how it was this time of year. Seth was a little surprised when his parents let him and Kendra stay until late in the fall, but they didn't have to be back at school until the twenty-sixth, so it was okay with him. Kendra, on the other hand, wasn't so sure. She was a little anxious to let the two leave. Seth didn't understand why she was freaking out so much, but he didn't worry about that. It wasn't for him to worry about things like that. That's what girls are for, right?

He thought that Kendra thought that maybe his parents were going to have another kid and that's why they were being all playful with each other and that's why his grandparents wanted them out of the house so quickly. He just hoped that he was wrong about that. A little sister? Maybe. A little brother? Great—they'd be thirteen years apart from each other. That wouldn't be more awkward at family parties. A twenty-six year-old sitting next to his thirteen-year-old brother? Yeah, not happening.

Maybe they were going to adopt someone. If that was the case, why were they acting weird?

Sometimes he didn't understand adults.

He walked into the warm house from the cold outside and looked around. Dale was there, Grandma and Grandpa, of course, and Warren, and Vanessa. Out of all of them, she looked the loneliest. Kendra loitered at the entrance, so Seth decided to give the Narcoblix some company while they waited for the food. He walked up to her cautiously, being careful not to draw her out of her day-dreamland. He peered into her face, and, getting bored, plopped down onto the couch next to her. She shook herself out of her trance, and looked at Seth.

"Oh. It's you."

Seth nodded. "Yes. It's the me."

Vanessa's eyebrow furrowed with confusion. "What?"

Seth smiled. "I'm me. Get it?"

Vanessa shook her head. "You and your silly puns."

Seth's smile broadened. "So what are we having?"

Vanessa looked up at him after she stopped staring at her spot on the floor where she always seemed to stare when she was thinking about something. "What?"

Seth repeated what he said. "Do you know?"

Vanessa shrugged her shoulders. "No clue. But I know what I'm having tonight."

Seth frowned. "For some reason, I think I know."

The woman nodded. "Yep. This again."

"Oh no."

"SETH!" Ruth yelped.

He jumped, stood up, and ran into the kitchen, nearly knocking a plate-coved Dale over. He put his hand up to his forehead in a salute. "YES MA'AM!"

Ruth looked at him and smiled. "Oh. You're inside already."

Seth nodded. "Yeah. I was talking to Vanessa in the living room. She said that we're having _that_ again."

Stan glowered at him. "Listen, young man—"

Seth rolled his eyes. _The 'young man' speech again? He's told me that one so many times I have the stupid thing memorized!_

"—your grandmother is a great cook, and you—"

"—you'll eat whatever she makes, bakes, packages, buries, and buys, right?"

Stan stared at him like he hadn't ever seen him before.

He gave a little smile. "Yeah. Memorization from the last fifty times you recited that thing to me."

Stan raised an eyebrow. "At least you'll have something to remember me by."

"Assuming I don't forget everything you say since you can't be around to repeat everything all the time."

Stan slouched his already slouched shoulders, and cocked his head at his grandson. "Sometimes I wonder if Kendra is really related to you."

Seth smiled. "I blame Patton."

Stan broke into a grin. "You'd better, young man."

"DINNER IS READY!" Warren shouted.

Seth made his way to the dining room and ended up sitting next to Kendra and Dale. The dinner was like a Thanksgiving dinner except a little more elaborate, and half of the food was left for the fairies. To be left out overnight and devoured by scary winged tiny-humans.

Seth squirmed.

All of the others talked and chatted about random things while Seth picked at his food. Kendra noticed, and questioned him about it.

"I'm not feeling very hungry."

Kendra tilted her head. "Are you sure?"

Seth nodded, and rubbed his stomach. "I think I have a stomach ache."

Kendra sighed. "It couldn't be because of all that stuff you got from Newel and Doren, could it?"

Seth looked at her. "I haven't gotten anything from them in a long time. And I finished that off a while ago."

"It was a mushroom that made everything it touched taste like chocolate."

"Exactly. I'm done with it. It ran out. Bang, boom, done."

Kendra rolled her eyes. "Whatever, little brother."

He took his plate and put it in the sink, and then made his way to his bedroom in the attic.

He didn't know how bad his night would end.

Seth fell asleep on his bed, watching the stars and trying to see what constellations were which. He also fell asleep in his clothes. A few minutes after he fell asleep, Kendra made her graceful way up the stairs, and changed into her pajamas, and then noticed the ever-uncomfortable position Seth slept in. And that he still had his shoes on.

She walked over to his bed, pulled his shoes off, and then his socks, and decided to leave his pants on. His shirt would make him hot, so she carefully slipped that off, and grabbed his sheets. On second thought that might make him too cold. Maybe his pants would make him too cold. But he would freak out if he would out that his older sister had done that. She decided that she would just leave him as is, and grab a thicker blanket for his feet.

Seth shuffled around in his bed, and some obscure wording escaped his lips. She didn't understand it all. It wasn't even English. Maybe he spoke in the Dark languages when he dreamed. She shivered. _I'll bet those are lovely._

She remembered how he didn't like to go to bed before she did, and wondered why that was. _Maybe it has to deal with the fact that he's a _shadow charmer_ now?_ Her mind thought. She frowned. Her body seemed to shy away from him, and she subconsciously seemed to avoid him, but he was her brother, and she didn't want him to think that she was upset with him or something. _Or maybe his _Dark _side understands what's going on subconsciously, so he does the same thing to you._ That was outrageous. Seth didn't have a "dark side." It was just her mind being silly.

An urge escaped inside her to hold her brother in her arms and protect him with all the might she had. She shivered, and put the sheets over her half-naked brother. Noticing something she hadn't before, she took a look at his chest. There was a little scar there from something. She frowned. What was that about? She shrugged and put the sheet over him.

Just in case, she leaned down and wrapped her arms around his neck, pecked a quick kiss on his cheek, and ruffled his hair. He was slobbering now. At least he didn't snore.

On cue, his nose started to snore, but after a few seconds, it stopped. Kendra couldn't help but smile. She climbed into her bed, pulled the sheets over herself, and fell asleep.

Kendra was ripped away from dreamland by the sound of her brother screaming like a banshee.

At first she didn't understand what was going on, but when she saw Seth's face frozen in a look of pained fear, his eyes pressed shut, his hands gripping the bed clothes like he was going to hurl over the edge of a cliff if he didn't hang on tight enough. His mouth would open wide and let out a pained scream, and sometimes he'd clamp it shut, trying not to sound like a dying animal with its lungs punctured, and blood leaking from its dying body.

He let out a pained wail, and his hold on the sheets went tighter, his knuckles white. Kendra got up, still a little sleepy, but shook her sheets off and walked like a drunkard over to Seth's bed. She glanced at the alarm clock. It flashed 12:00. The cord had been ripped from the wall and then reattached. Maybe Seth had to use the bathroom and tripped.

Seth screamed again, and that brought Kendra back into the present. Not knowing what else to do, she put her hands gently on his arms, and whispered that he was okay and that everything was going to be fine.

A pure black spark of magical electricity shot up his arm. She pulled her hand away before the pitch-black spark could touch her. A shadow ripped itself from the wall, bending into a horn-like shape and changing into more like a hand before it grabbed her and ripped her off her feet, slamming her body against the cold glass window.

This time Kendra screamed.

Seth's body jerked upward, and he screamed again, making it look like he was a dead body coming back to an excruciatingly painful life awakening. Or a frog with electricity running through its lifeless limbs. Kendra's lungs were on fire with the pressure, and she tried not to hyperventilate as the glass around her began to crack. The shadow-arm slowly released its grip on her, eventually disappearing all together and letting her drop to the floor, a huge, dark bruise forming across her chest.

Seth stopped yelling and started crying, unable to control his emotions in this subconscious, seemingly delirious state. He whimpered, and turned onto his side, clutching the sheets tighter than he had earlier. His mouth was twisted into an angry frown, and his tears streamed down his cheeks in torrents.

Gripping her now irritated chest, she crouched by her brother, and rubbed his face and messed up his hair even more than she had before, but gently. Her younger brother gripped a pillow like a teddy bear, and clammed up when Kendra started gently trying to calm him down. It looked like he was expecting her to hit him. Kendra frowned. His dreams might be worse than she originally thought.

Seth slowly opened one eye, and looked at Kendra. He opened both eyes when he noticed it was her, and was a little tempted to jump into her arms and let her hold him. He jerked the thought away.

_I'm stronger than that. Nightmares can't scare me._

Seth started breathing harder, and Kendra pulled him into a hug. He tucked his head into her shoulder, and lay there, trying to calm himself down.

Softly, Kendra started to rub his back. She stopped she got to the thick pale scar. Feeling the wound, Seth noticed what she was doing and pulled away, his face looking a bit red in the dark atmosphere.

He pushed her away, sitting upright and swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He wiped sweat from his forehead, and looked up at his sister, who was still looking at him, concerned.

_If she's concerned, then everybody else is going to be fretting when she tries to explain what happened. _Seth shivered at the thought.

He put his head in his hands, and breathed in deeply. _It's okay. It didn't really happen. It couldn't have happened._

Kendra decided to break her silence. "So… what'd you dream about?"

_That's a nice thing to bring up after your little brother just has a terrible nightmare,_ she scolded herself. _He's a shadow charmer—he deserves it. Why are you even in the same room with him? He tried to kill—_

She stopped herself short.

Seth didn't look like he wanted to tell her.

"Seth?"

"Yeah?"

Kendra gulped. "Should I leave the light on?"

Looking unsure, Seth finally nodded. "Yeah. Nightlight, though. Wouldn't want Hugo to worry." He realized how stupid that sounded after he said it. Hugo was a golem. He didn't' have emotions.

_But still, he might worry._

"Nightlight it is, then," Kendra answered, turning away but looking at Seth out of the corner of her eye.

Seth nodded, and lay back down on his bed. She switched on one of the toys that acted as a nightlight, and watched as her brother slowly descended into the dark abyss of sleep, eventually following into it herself.


	2. Chapter 2: Looking

Chapter Two: Looking

The Next Morning, 4:36 A.M.

Seth was wide awake. He couldn't shake the feeling in his stomach. He was thinking about his parents and the way they sounded over the phone. He stared at the ceiling, trying to make sense of it.

His bed clothes wrapped around him, he glanced down at the indent where his chest was. The sheet felt warm against his skin. It felt warm and relaxing. Wait a second. He pulled the sheet up and looked at his chest. He wasn't wearing a shirt. He sat up and looked around in the darkness to satisify his fear of what on earth could have happened to his shirt. Luckily the nightlight was on. He'd forgotten about the nightlight. He spotted his shirt on the floor and sighed, falling back into his spot on the bed. He looked over at Kendra, who looked like she was freezing. He frowned. He didn't want to pull himself out of his warm bed, but he promised his body that he'd be in his warm bed in less than a minute. He slipped out, and was relieved to see that his pants were still on.

_That would have been very uncomfortable if they hadn't of been._

He carefully walked over to his sister's bed, being cautious around the open block-toys. Especially the smaller ones. Those ones hurt like… well, they hurt.

_There are no words for how much it hurts._

He pulled the thick blanket that had fallen on the floor back onto Kendra's bed, and covered her with it. He brushed her hair out of her face—she moved when she slept, even if she wouldn't admit it—and froze.

His nose twitched. His eyes started burning, and his eyebrow furrowed. He backed away from his sister, and looked around the room. The nightlight didn't help get rid of the dark shadows. It hardly helped at all.

Not wanting to go to all the trouble of pulling on a shirt and then a hoodie, he just pulled on a black hoodie with the words _dead man_ written in an eerie script. Slipping on tennis shoes, he flopped down loudly on the floor. He sat there, tense, for a few seconds before recognizing that nobody was waking up or trying to kill him.

He put his hand underneath his bed, and had to search for a minute before he found what he was looking for. Gripping it in his hand, he pulled out a glass bottle from a drawer, and made his way downstairs.

Opening the door to the fridge watchfully, he pulled out the milk, poured some in the glass, and screwed the cap on. Shutting the door to the fridge, he made his way through the squeaky house, passing through the living room on the way out. He carefully opened the door, and noticed the huge, hulking figure of Hugo standing, immobile, in the rose bushes in front of the house. Seth raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. He walked down the steps, and went off, into the dark woods.

The woods were dark—darker than his room had been. The trees shivered more than he thought they would, and he could sense creatures coming out to look at him. Stare at him. Seth pulled the hood over his head, and continued to walk, his back toward the wind.

Not really caring where he ended up at, he saw a cave in the distance. It wasn't enormous, but it was well-worn, and had a sense of homeliness to it. Dark homeliness, but what else could one expect to find in the middle of the night? He made his toward it, and entered the cave, feeling the familiar groves in the sides that he'd made when he walked into Graulas' cave. When he got to the end of the cave, he stopped.

He was _in _Graulas' cave.

He glared at the room-like area he was in, and was tempted to wake back out, but rain started to pour, and he would rather have an artificial shower than a free one.

He curled up into a ball and fell asleep.

The Next Morning, 8:43 A.M.

Kendra woke up and noticed that someone had pulled the sheet she had thrown on the floor back on her. She smiled at the thought, and looked at her brother's bed. There were lumps and bumps, indications that her brother might be there, but she didn't see him.

Part of her was sad. Even a little disappointed. She missed seeing him wake up. It was kind of cute the way he would wake up.

She looked out the wide window where the crack was—oh, good gracious, the crack! That thing was _huge!_

She nearly fainted going down the stairs.

Earlier the night before, 12:20 A.M.

A shadow doesn't make noise. This shadow didn't make any noise. It wasn't supposed to. And if it wasn't supposed to, it had no intention of not doing so. All that it had to do was get the old man and get out.

It was a good thing the old man didn't scream.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Crumbs

Edilyn Motley was having a terrible day. Her brunette pigtails—hanging off the side of her head—had sticks, twigs, leaves, and mud stuck in them. Her thick red vest had a few stains; most of them from the mud, and her pleated grey skirt looked horrible, all wrinkled and defeated-looking. Her socks were brown now. Her shoes even more so. It didn't help the fact that she was running away from little imps, the stupid creatures.

She didn't need the milk to see them for what they were. Then again, she didn't need the milk to see any of the magical creatures.

She tried forcing her legs to go faster, but they were going as fast as they could. Pulling a potion out of her leather backpack, she uncorked it, and poured most of the contents down her throat. Immediately her legs didn't feel as heavy, and she could run faster.

So could the imps.

It seemed that they hadn't been trying their hardest to reach her, but when she got faster, it became apparent that there was something interesting about this girl. They ran quickly after her, and she tried to speed up more, weaving through trees, shrubs, bushes, tiny clearings, tight trails, before slamming into an enchantment.

_This forest is huge._

She turned and looked back at the imps, who were gaining on her. She pulled her bag off, and pulled out a spell book, flipping through the pages, trying to find the right one. Finally she found it. Casting the _Enter_ spell, the force field threw her inside. The imps shrieked angrily.

She breathed a sigh of relief, and picked up her bag. She made a face at the imps, who shrieked again, and then walked off.

The clouds looked angry, angrier than the imps had. A water droplet hit her face. She wiped it off, and shivered.

_I need to look for shelter._

It started raining, harder and harder until it was pouring.

Seeing a dark cave and knowing that there was nowhere else that she would likely find, she stepped into the dank cave, and brushed her hand against the edge until she reached the end.

_I hope there aren't any dragons down here._

Hearing a noise, she squeaked, and looked down, squinting hard in the dark. It was just a pile of clothes. Laying herself down on the clothes, she realized it was a boy. Not caring much about the morning next—too tired to think about it—she fell asleep, using the thing as a pillow.

Seth felt something move on his stomach. He put his hand on it, and felt something silky and smooth. Softly feeling the thing, he curled up around it, not wanting to open his eyes. His hand slipped, and he felt the smooth touch of skin against his fingertips. His eyes opened on their own. He stared at the face in front of his.

She had brown hair, and freckles splashed across her pale cheeks. She looked a little sunburned. Her head was on his stomach. Her red vest was crumbled up, like she had thrown it on. Her grey pleated skirt was crumpled and wet, and the thing she was using as a teddy bear was cracking at the edges.

Seth backed away a little bit, and the girl stirred. Seth pushed himself up, and the girl's head connected with the floor. Immediately she woke up. Her eyes flashing a hint of grey, she glared up at Seth. Her face went white when she saw him. She started backing away, trying to get away from him, as if he were some type of monster. Seth's eyebrows met, and he looked at her in confusion.

"Please don't hurt me." She sounded close to tears.

Seth's confused glare softened a smudge. "How did you get here?"

She put one hand on top of the other, and put them next to her head. She was pleading. "Please… don't hurt me…"

Seth held up his hands and took a cautious step towards her. "I'm not going to hurt you…" The girl scooted back when he stepped forward, looking ready to run if needed.

_How freaky do I look?_

Realizing that she thought that he would hurt her, he knelt down. "What's your name?"

Kendra was having a terrible day. Her brother was missing. Her grandpa was missing. Grandma was hysterical. Dale figured that whoever had taken Grandpa must have Seth, too, and Kendra had had the bright idea to mention Seth's nightmares and her torso hurting, and Grandma had somehow gotten it into her head that Seth had kidnapped the poor man.

_That isn't what I meant._

Tanu concocted a potion to make Grandma stop freaking out—and it had worked; the fear hadn't returned yet—and made another one to calm down Kendra.

Vanessa stood in the corner, not sure what to do.

Ever since the end of the Demon Prison episode, no one had really trusted her very much. She had been trustworthy, but there was still that air of… _Disdain._

She still helped them try to look for Seth. They searched the surrounding grounds, and Kendra went to the lake to look for him. The grass was green, and the trees and flowers vibrant with every color on the rainbow scale. The lake shimmered brightly in the sunlight. The day looked happy in contrast to Kendra's darkened mood.

She didn't know where Grandpa would be, and Seth definitely wasn't strong enough to lift up Grandpa. She doubted that Seth would be with their grandfather, but it seemed more and more likely. Not willing to set foot into the lake, she walked unhurriedly back to the house. Settling down on the grass in front of the house, she lies down, and spread out her arms. Relaxing a little, she looked at the clouds.

_That one looks like an elephant. And that one looks like a disembodied dragon-head hiding behind a castle tower. And that one looks like… a lost boy._

Closing her eyes to avoid the sight all together, and wanting to get her thoughts away from the subject, she thought of Bracken. Bracken, the tall, elegant teenaged boy she'd met while in a dark dungeon a ways beneath the earth. Seth had met him first, but that didn't mean that he was Seth's best friend. That spot was reserved all ready.

She felt the ground near her vibrate. She opened her eyes and looked off to her right. Dale lied there, smiling at her.

"Needed to take a breather, huh?"

Kendra nodded. "Seth's kind of invading my thoughts and I can't think."

Dale stopped smiling. "He can't do that, can he?" He stopped when Kendra gave him a confused look. "I mean, he's a shadow charmer, and you're Fairy-kind. They're two different things." He glanced up at the sky. "Aren't they?"

Kendra glared at him. "Are you implying that Fairy-kind is evil beings that should be destroyed and shadow charmers are great?"

Dale stared at her, looking uneasy. "No. The Sphinx was a shadow charmer, and so was your brother—"

"Let's not talk about either of them for a while, okay?"

Dale nodded, staring uncomfortably at the sky. "Sorry."

Kendra made no comment.

"Are you kids just going to lie there, looking like beached whales or are you going to help?" Grandma scorned. She was irritable.

_Probably because her _husband_ has just disappeared._

Dale, a man in his mid-twenties, got up. "Yeah. Coming." He seemed glad to get out of the awkward situation, and made it a bit worse by not looking back at her.

_When on earth did you get so selfish, Kendra?_

_When you started asking questions._

The girl seemed very intent on not telling Seth her name. She stayed resolutely silent, but still whimpering and backing up occasionally, being sure to avoid Seth at all costs. She had barely made it five feet away from him. Seth wasn't sure what to do. Walk towards her and make her freak out more, or back up and let her run away, or try to calm her down. He had barely realized that she was bleeding badly when the girl started whimpering again.

"Are you going to let me go?" Her voice shook.

He hadn't realized that the shadows in the cave had a firm grip on her. That's why she could only move so far. He told his gut to calm down and tensed and untensed it several times before the shadows finally let her go. Her back stopped straightening, and her body went as slack as a dead fish. She coughed several times. Seth finally got up to her.

Patting her back, he waited while she coughed, seeming to do so just because it proved her point. She coughed a little smudge of blood onto her white button-up. Her socks were brown—probably from the night before, since it had been raining—and her socks, he supposed, used to look white. They weren't anymore.

"You are a jerk."

Seth shrugged. "I've been called worse."

She looked up at him, one eye closed, an eye watering. "What can be worse than being called a jerk?"

_Oh, you wouldn't understand._

"Um… Uh…" He searched for words. The girl got cocky and smirked.

Slight pull on the gut. Seth vetoed.

"You don't know, do you?"

The words came before he could stop them. "What do you know, Mud-Foot?" It wasn't the best insult, but it was the only one that held any meaning.

The girl looked down at her shoes, the smirk obliterated from her face.

"What do you want, Freaky?"

_I'm _"Freaky" _now? Whatever._

"What your name is."

"What?"

"I want to know what your name is."

"Oh."

Either this girl was slow, or she had broken something inside her brain when it connected with the ground. Or she was still a little freaked out that she was talking to a boy that she had named, "Freaky." He glared at her.

"Name. Now."

"Okay. Okay. No sense in getting worked up about it."

Seth's gut tensed again. "_Oh yeah?"_

She could tell that she was having some success… but not in stalling the inevitable. "Motley."

Seth continued to glare at her.

"Edilyn Motley."

"Edilyn Motley," Seth repeated. "Sounds Medieval."

Motley shrugged. "I didn't make it."

Seth extended a hand. "Your neighborhood Demon, _Freaky."_

Motley had been extending her hand to his until he had said the word, "demon." Instantly her had drew away and backed into the wall. Seth smiled, and Edilyn Motley drew away in terror. Seth started laughing, and she pulled down an eyebrow.

"Are you… pulling my leg?"

Seth laughed a bit more, taking pleasure in her immediate reaction. "Yeah. A bit more than pulling it. More like"—more laughter—"ripping it clean off!"

Edilyn Motley looked thoroughly offended, and Seth couldn't help but laugh. His tone got serious when his gut started hurting more than it should have, and clearly the girl thought his behavior close to that of an erratic lunatic.

"Who are you?" she asked, her voice quivering.

Seth frowned. "I asked you that question already. I live here. Who are you?"

It was her turn to frown. "I told you that already—"

Seth shook his head. "You told me your name, not who you are."

The girl looked even more confused then she had not five seconds ago. "What?"

Seth cleared his throat. "Who are you, and how did you get here?"

"I'm Edilyn Mot—"

Seth stopped her. "That's your name. Not who you are."

She shook her head. "No, that's who I am and my name."

Seth folded his arms, and crossed his legs, squinting at her. She didn't squirm, and she didn't back off. His gut still hurt a bit from the laughter, but that was it. She looked ratty and tired, and probably felt like a ton of bricks ready to fall over, but prepared as a gazelle ready to sprint at the first sign of danger. Asleep but alert.

"Oxymoron." He shrugged. "So you have no title. Okay. You aren't a student, or anything?"

This got her attention. "Yes, I'm a student."

"Who teaches you?"

"Miss Maltava."

Seth's eyebrow drifted further down his face.

Edilyn looked around the dank cave, looking like she _really_ didn't want to be there. "She's a witch."

Dale started avoiding her after that. They got in the car and left to go to the private plane strip, and Dale had been forced to sit in the back with them. Ruth had been put in the driver's seat by Tanu, who was driving, and Vanessa sat behind her, trying to keep her dreams away from Grandpa. Warren and Hugo stayed behind to guard Fablehaven.

Dale barely said anything, and the car remained silent. Tanu didn't bother to turn on the radio, and there were no radio towers close enough to make a connection, anyway.

Tanu had suggested that they go down to the Hall of Dread—Seth had talked to ghosts and monsters down there before, why not now?—and there they had found a note about going to Black City Canyon. Vanessa had recognized the area, and offered to take them there. It, oddly, involved taking a private airplane.

Kendra had expected the long trip there and had brought a blanket and a pillow. When she got on the plane, she reclined, and pulled the pillow beneath her head. Covering her body with the warm blanket, she drifted off to sleep…

…And she found herself staring in the face of Bracken. He smiled, and she smiled back. Feeling like she was slipping in an unending non-ground, she saw a bunch of people she knew on rocks that popped up out of the ground. Bracken disappeared the further down she went. It got darker and darker until finally she could see nothing.

A tiny light opened up, and she noticed a figure in the darkness. Her view point zoomed forward, and she looked at the person sitting lonely in the dark.

It was Seth.

Her tour of the darkness ended, and she shot back up towards the light, the dimness of Seth's tiny light obscured by all the light she gave off herself.

When Kendra woke up, she felt like a balloon that had been roughly inflated, and then popped, fixed, inflated again, and then agitatedly deflated again. It was the middle of the night, and Vanessa was still awake. She was helping the pilot—she could hear them talking, at least.

Dale was by Tanu, and only Grandma and Dale where asleep now.

Kendra's spot was at the back, all by herself. Grandma's was in the front, by everyone else's, and Dale's was intentionally near Tanu's. Vanessa's supposed spot was nowhere to be found. Tanu noticed that Kendra was awake.

He smiled that gentle smile, and looked at her questioningly. "Are you all right, Kendra?"

Kendra shook her head. "Not really. I just had a creepy dream."

Tanu's smile faded a little. "Oh really?"

Kendra nodded. "Yeah. Everyone was there, and it was pure white—the background. The first person I saw was Bracken."

"Love interests have a thing for showing up first in dreams."

Kendra lowered her eyes. "And then it was Grandma and Grandpa and my friends—you, Coulter, Dale, Warren, Vanessa, and my school friends. Even Gavin showed up."

Tanu nodded, but didn't say anything.

"All of you were standing on these black rock pillars, and everything was in black and white… it got darker the further I went down, and the person at the very bottom, the one that looked like he was holding the brightest light there… was Seth."

Tanu nodded. "I'm no expert on dreams, but it sounds like you know that Seth is good, no matter how he acts, he always has good intentions."

Kendra looked at the floor. "Sometimes I'm not sure if he has good intentions or not." She paused. "You remember Graulas."

The nod again. "The demon that Seth befriended, and who helped Seth understand his abilities, and the same who destroyed Fablehaven after Seth saved his life with the Sands."

"Yeah."

Tanu smiled. "It's a good thing we got that fixed up, or else we wouldn't have anywhere to sleep."

Kendra smiled back. "Yeah. I just hope Seth is okay."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: Failure

Seth looked at the house in front of him. Edilyn gave him a worried glance, and looked back up at the house.

"Are you _sure_ there is no one in there?"

Seth smiled. "Pretty sure. Warren and Dale should have gone with Grandma and Kendra, wherever they went."

Edilyn looked around the grounds. "How do you know they're gone?"

Seth pointed at the driveway. "There isn't a car there."

Motley tilted her head. "Um… 'Car'?"

Seth raised an eyebrow. "You don't know what a car is?"

Edilyn lowered her shoulders and rolled her eyes. "I was raised by a witch."

"I thought you were _mentored _by a witch."

"Both."

"Mentored _and _raised? That must have been hard."

She stopped again. "Hard for whom?"

Seth looked back at her from his place in the bushes. "For the witch."

Facing back toward the house, he almost hit a fairy. The tiny being shook a fist in his face, and flew hurriedly away. A flashback reverted himself back into the walrus. He shook his head violently, trying to shake the thought from his head. It remained there, lodged in it.

He grabbed Motley's arm. "If we are going to go in there, we'd better do it now."

She pulled her arm away. "Okay. How do we get in?"

"We have a key under the mat—no, how do you think we get in?" His voice shook a little, and he knew that he was starting to get a little annoyed with the new girl.

She looked at him, her eyes wide. "You expect me to know? 'Cuz I don't. I don't know anything about this place." She stopped and waited for him to go. Under her breath, she hissed, "Lead the way, Mr. I'm-the-Greatest."

Seth's instinct was to turn around and punch her in the face.

Right smack in the face.

He was Mr. Angry right now, and he figured that if he had punched her, the shadow might end up killing her. And he didn't want a body on his hands.

He stopped and glanced at a window nearby. It was open. It looked like it was around the area where Grandma and Grandpa's room was.

"What the…"

If the car is gone, why would the window be open? Did they just forget to close it?

Seeing his chance to break back into the house, he turned slightly, and made his way over to the window. Climbing on to a couple trees, he made his way over to the open window. He glanced down at Edilyn, who looked none too happy about having to climb up a tree to get into a house.

"Are you getting back at me?"

Seth continued climbing. "Getting back at you for what?"

"For calling you names."

"Like Freaky and Mr. I'm the Greatest? No way. Why would you think that?"

Her face went bright red. "You heard that?"

"I'm not deaf, ya know."

She was quiet for a few moments while he continued climbing. "So?"

"So what?"

"Are you getting back at me?"

Seth reached for a branch. "Yes. Yes, Motley—"

The girl cringed.

Seth paused, and then frowned. "Edilyn—"

She looked up at him.

"—I am getting back at you."

Seth finally reached the window and was trying to climb through when Edilyn said, "I'm coming up."

Seth shrugged, and gave a muffled, "Okay then."

He could hear several grunts and more than one high pitched almost-scream before he felt her grab his leg. "Is there anything in there?"

He could almost see her chest heaving, most of her body covered by the leaves. He turned back to the room. Bathroom. Obviously there was a reason to leave the window open.

"Yeah. There's a toilet, which is a magical device that takes away your poo."

"I know what a toilet is, I-don't-know-your-name."

"Freaky."

"What is?"

"That's my name. The name you gave me. Just call me Freaky."

Edilyn raised an eyebrow. "Um… Okay…"

Seth slide the front part of his body into the bathroom, and put his hands on the toilet seat. Sliding more of his body inside, he put his hands on the floor, and then put his feet on the toilet. Putting his feet on the ground, he picked himself up, and washed his hands. Edilyn scooted up and started to put her legs through.

"Don't hit your head on the way in."

She looked around the window, at him. "Hit my head on what?"

"If you hadn't noticed, the window goes out, it doesn't slide. Don't hit yourself on the window on the way in."

"Do you want me to copy you?"

"Do whatever you want. I don't care."

"Geez, Freaky," she muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," she replied hurriedly. "Nothing."

"Are you getting mad at me, Motley?"

"Stop calling me that!" she yelped.

"And what are you going to do, kill me?"

"It's very likely!"

Seth ripped her legs inside, not caring if they got cut in the process or not. Edilyn screamed and hit her feet on the floor. Her knees gave out, and she whimpered.

Her eyes were glued to the floor. Seth pulled hard on her chin, met with pathetic resistance, and made her eyes look into his.

His voice stern, he said threateningly quiet, "If any one of us had reason to kill the other, I win." He jerked her chin away like throwing away a rotten piece of meat. "Interloper."

He glared at her, and her eyes locked on the floor again.

_The wheels of the plane go up and down, up and down, the wheels on the plane go up and down, never moving._

Breaking the silence of the day, Kendra asked Tanu, the only one not drifting asleep other than her, "Where are we going?"

Tanu looked up from his potions. "We are going to Black Ridge Canyon."

"And where is that?"

"In the middle of nowhere."

"So why are we going there?"

"The people there have long wanted to kidnap your grandfather."

"But Grandma thinks that Seth kidnapped him."

"Yes. She does."

"So why are we going to Black Ridge Canyon?"

"We have to explore all possibilities."

Kendra sighed. "Meaning that Grandma is in denial about the whole thing, and wants to take a break from it."

"Not necessarily."

Kendra sighed. "If that's not the case, then I don't know what is anymore." She put her head in her hands, and rubbed the back of her neck.

Tanu scrunched his eyebrows, and frowned. "Maybe you need to take a break, Kendra. Have you slept at all?"

Kendra shook her head and rubbed her eyes. "Wake me up when we land?"

Tanu nodded, and she cuddled up with a blanket that had been sitting on the floor. Closing her eyes, she drifted off to a dark sleep.

Seth was frustrated. Warren was outside—probably talking to Hugo or somebody, maybe Kendra? Who knows? He carefully opened the bathroom door, and peeked around the corner, making sure the house was empty. Oddly, the living room and hall were empty.

Seth's eyebrow raised but he didn't say anything. Edilyn followed him into the living room and then turned into the kitchen. Being careful not to make anything squeak, he opened the fridge, and took out the milk and poured more of it into a glass.

He jumped a little when Edilyn touched his arm.

She jerked back in surprise. "Oh, sorry, sorry…"

"What?" Seth asked, wiping the spilled milk off his hoodie sleeve.

"Oh… Um…" She cleared her throat. "What is that thing you're holding?"

Seth held up the glass. "This? It's a –"

Edilyn raised her hands and waved them wildly. "No, no, not that. That's not what I meant. I know what that is. It's a glass."

Seth tapped his foot and looked sternly at her. "And your point?"

"What's with the box?"

Seth took the cereal box that he had attached a strap onto and held it up to her. "This?"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: Black Ridge Canyon

Kendra had a long night's sleep, but she didn't feel refreshed or well-prepared for whatever they were about to do. Being in a new town wasn't odd with her line of "work," but she had slowly gotten used to the idea. It didn't feel right with them being in Black Ridge while Seth could be anywhere, covered in gore and screaming his lungs out in pain. The thought made her eyebrow furrow, and she could sense her aura darken slightly. Just a titch. Not a huge change.

_It's a good thing there aren't any fairies around here._

When she stepped off the plane, she nearly fell over. Riding on a plane for what felt like a lifetime, and having to walk around, had made her legs get used to the odd way the floor moved. Dale caught her, and then quickly backed away; looking slightly fearful that she would say something nasty at him.

_The Fairy Queen's Hand-Maiden is thinking Dark Thoughts? Good is Evil and Evil is Good? When has this happened?_

Kendra noticed the reason why the area was called Black Ridge Canyon. All around the area the ground was a deathly dark black color. Glancing back at her friends, who were greeting someone—an old friend, maybe—she looked over at an irregular patch of land. Walking sneakily over to it, she tripped on a root and came face to face with a huge cliff.

Not knowing what else to do, Kendra screamed.

Tanu hurried over and picked her up, hugging her and patting her down, making sure she was okay. Dale risked a look over the edge of the cliff. He turned away, his stomach turned from delirious vertigo. The chasm went so deep that the bottom was completely covered in freakish blackness.

"Has this always been here?" Dale asked the guide, trying not to throw up on his shoes.

"Yes. In fact there are signs warning visitors every hundred feet."

"Why every hundred feet?"

The guide looked at Dale as if he were pretending to be stupid and still showing signs. "Because we don't expect people to go running over here." The guide pointed at the white sign, a sign that seemed incredibly contrasted to the entirely black environment.

Dale's mouth formed an apologetic, "Oh."

The guide walked back to Grandma, and lead her away, gesturing for the others to follow.

Kendra turned to Tanu. "Shouldn't this place be called _Black Chasm_ instead of Black Ridge Canyon?"

Tanu shrugged. "The people here come up with their own names. We are in no position to have them change it."

Kendra frowned, and walked toward the large black house that seemed to loom over them.

Lights Camera Action

The inside was cool and refreshing, but still rather freakish. The lightning was dark, but black mesh curtains covered the windows, somewhat blocking light from coming through. It made the whole place even more eerie since it didn't look like there were light switches—or lights—anywhere. Black taxidermy creatures lined the walls, some with terrifying smiles, spikes, huge mouths, and scales, sometimes all four.

Dale tried reviving his confidence in the guide. "Why is everything here black?"

The guide didn't seem at all surprised at the question, as if he had been asked the question a million times. "Some people—ages ago—thought that this land was cursed, so the only people that they would send out here were the cursed ones. Most often, they were Shadow Charmers."

Kendra's heart beat a little bit faster. _Could Seth be out here?_

_You idiot. What do you expect him to do, walk here? You got here in a _plane.

Looking at one of the creatures, she noticed that it looked slightly demonic. She risked a glance at the hard-core guide, who looked directly at her, as if expecting something. She hesitated. _What was with this guy?_

"Um… Are the creatures here… demons?"

The guide didn't seem remotely surprised. _Why was that?_

"All the creatures here are some sort of mixture. There are demon dragons, ghost demons, wraith dragons, and even demonic sheep. All the bigger creatures are on lower levels. In fact, one of our new recruits took out a wraith the other day."

Kendra glanced at Dale, who wasn't looking at her. He was staring harshly at the guide. "Why are you killing these creatures? We're supposed to protect magical creatures, aren't we?"

The guide shrugged. "The big man at the top didn't want any of the creatures to attack the far-away locals, so he sent us here to make sure they don't get out of hand."

"This place _is _a reserve, isn't it?"

A new voice broke in. "Yes, but not the kind of reserve you're thinking of, Dale."

Dale looked in the direction of the speaker. It was Grandma. Dale cocked his head to the side a little. "What do you mean, 'not the kind of reserve I'm thinking of'? What could you possibly mean by that?"

Grandma looked up from her spot on the floor. "What I mean is that this place contains all the creatures that the creations of the other magical creatures don't want or even like. They want to get rid of them entirely, and some people—some of the people from the Ranch and the Vertigo—cities far away from here, but still close enough to have disasters now and again—send Shadow Charmers here because they think that the shadow charmers are the ones who caused this and want to see them fix the problem." She stopped, and drew in a deep breath. "And ninety-nine percent of the time, the Shadow Charmers fail."

Kendra decided to draw in on the conversation. "So if Shadow Charmers get killed by their own creatures here, then why on earth are _we _here?"

Grandma looked at her. "Because they haven't been known to attack outsiders."

"Seth isn't here, he couldn't possibly be here."

"That doesn't mean anything. He could be here. You just don't know."

"Why are we looking for my brother in a place that's so far away from Fable Haven that even we had to take a _plane _to get here? What makes you think that my little brother is here?" She took a step forward. "And another thing, since I'm Fairy-Kind—"

Her grandmother closed her eyes and shook her head. "I wish you hadn't of said that."

"What makes you think that they won't attack _us_ either!?"

Her grandmother turned and slapped Kendra right across the face. "Know you've made me really mad, you brat! I promised your Grandfather that I wouldn't hurt you, but _here we are_!"

Dale, Vanessa, Tanu, and Kendra's eyes opened wide, and their mouths dropped open.

Kendra was the first to react. She stood up right, and glared at her so-called "grandmother." "You aren't her. You never were. I should have known."

Her grandmother gave an eerie smile, and took off her glasses. "You had me right from the start. Didn't you, Dale?" Her eyes searched his, looking for confirmation. Finally her smile broadened.

Dale felt his mouth constrict. "So what if I had my doubts? You never get mad at anyone… Except Seth."

"And why is that?"

Dale's calm face finally faltered and he shouted, "Because he's not like you!"

Kendra felt like her skull was going to collapse in on itself. _What was going on here?_ She gripped her head and tried to keep from falling over. "What do you mean? What's going on?"

Dale looked over at Kendra. "This person isn't really your grandmother. He's just a good impersonator."

The being in front of them smiled, looking at them with contented pleasure. "Your grandmother might have died a long time ago had I not been placed in her body when I was."

"'Placed in her body'? What type of sick freak are you?"

"Not as big a freak as your brother. You know those thoughts you've been having about him? How you've wanted to get rid of him?"

Kendra's eyes widened. "No… It can't…"

The woman smiled, and then her form shivered and then disappeared completely, replaced by a thin, athletic man.


End file.
